Brian Rea explains the crucial learnings from his book to help you learn to live slowly.

I'm Brian Rea, and I paint and draw for a living. There are many benefits to being an artist, but I'm never able to 'shut things down.'

At times, this has competed with family time, trips, relationships, and my health. When I'm trying to take a break, I become anxious that I'm not working.

When my father retired, he gave me two words of advice: 'work less.' And as I get older, I am more aware of how finite life is — there are fewer days left than those I've already explored.

Nearly two people die every second. With those kinds of statistics, it might be said that Death works harder than anyone! He never gets a break.

Death Wins a Goldfish explores what Death would do if he had an entire year off. This book is not about dying. Death is our hero, but Death Wins a Goldfish could be a book about a banana who works too hard, and it would convey the same ideas.

But Death serves as a good reminder that there are finish lines to our lifetimes. This book is about living.